On Praise: People react positively to praise when it is genuine, highly specific and not rationed or competitive in nature. Remove any of these attributes and such praise is seriously compromised and potentially damaging.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and flow: People want to enjoy their work, to be of value, to feel secure and respected, to develop and master new skills. ‘Command and control’ constrains people from achieving such a state of flow.

Neuroscience: The fundamental organising principle of our brain is to maximise reward and minimise threat. This applies when it comes to our feeling of status…but promotion isn’t (and shouldn’t be) the only way to gain status within an organisation.

The Milgram Experiment explained: A detailed explanation of the classic 1960s experiment on how people behave when given orders from those in authority…with (hopefully) a mind-opening outcome for some serious thought.